Which to use
“polis” and “poulies” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,239
- “polis” frequency rank
- #40,932
- “poulies” frequency rank
- 61171
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | polis | poulies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dans la Grèce antique, cité-État composée d’une communauté de citoyens libres et autonomes. | Pluriel de poulie. |
Where the eye mixes polis and poulies
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. polis runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against poulies's 7 (CVVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between polis and poulies
A purely visual mix-up. polis (\po.lis\) and poulies (\pu.li\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61171, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
polis is recorded at frequency rank #20,239, classified as anoun, pronounced \po.lis\. poulies is at rank #40,932, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pu.li\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 61171, this pair ranks #93,724 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of polis vs poulies
Shared letters: ilops. Private to "polis": -. Private to "poulies": eu.
"polis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "poulies" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "polis" for "poulies" ever safe?
Which is more common, "polis" or "poulies"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "polis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poulies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #93,724 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "polis" and "poulies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poulies vs pouliot". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #93,724 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.